


Hear Me Out

by arynna



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Multi, Swan Mills Family, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-23
Updated: 2014-04-23
Packaged: 2018-01-20 12:09:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1509920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arynna/pseuds/arynna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma speaks up for herself, and gets more than she bargained for. Set immediately after 3x18, where Regina HAS NOT left to go see Robin Hood yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hear Me Out

**Author's Note:**

> SwanQueen all the way. This has Emma retrieving Regina's heart, a lot of fluff, and mentions of Emma's time in the system. Yeah.

            “Don’t ‘ssh’ me, Regina.” Emma was always clumsy with her words, these weren’t any better. She’d come back to the mayor’s house after ditching the boys at Granny’s swapping stories. (Because there were really only so many stupid Hook jokes about his ‘hook’ aka genital references she could take. Gross and creepy all at once.) She was standing in Regina’s kitchen looking as though she’d interrupted the most important talk that her mother and Regina had had in roughly twenty years, and it made her feel like shit. She clenched her jaw and stood her ground, knowing that even if people didn’t like what she had to say, she still had to say it.

            “I beg your pardon, dear?”

           “Emma, what do you mean?” both of them spoke at the same time. Emma was considering drinking the poison tea.

         “Look. I...” she played with her hands, wringing them nervously. Avoiding looking at either woman, she focused instead on a point just above Regina’s head as she continued to speak. “I didn’t mean to interrupt, but...That ‘sssh’ thing really gets on my nerves. I’m sorry I snapped at you, Regina. I didn’t mean to. That’s not right of me, to take my issues out on you.”

          “Issues? I was unaware there was an issue.” Regina lied smoothly. She had the look on her face that said, _I see we’re about to take a trip into the land of backstory._ Whereas Mary Margaret was oblivious per usual.

           “When I was in the system, that was a whole lot of ‘speak when spoken to.’ I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told to ‘ssh’ so the more important...The...The real kids could talk.” It was like she’d thrown a brick through the kitchen window. The reaction was instant. Snow looked like Emma had kicked her puppy, and Regina’s lips thinned to near invisibility. Emma pressed on, darting her gaze to Regina’s briefly. “Kids in the system were thought of as ‘less than’...Well, at least where I grew up. We weren’t as good as the biological kids. Our opinions didn’t matter. We had nothing to say, you know? Not compared to everyone else. To the kids people actually wanted.” she spit with more venom than she thought possible after twenty years.

            “Someone wanted you! I did!” her mother's voice rings out before she can stop the words.

            “Yeah, well....We saw how that w--” Emma rises to the bait, though she hates herself for it. Regina shuts her down with one word.

              _ **“Emma.”**_ Regina said low in her throat, stepping closer to the woman.

              “Snow, you have to understand where Emma is coming from, and for that matter _I should have_. I knew the life I cursed you to would be painful, but...” Regina sighed, her voice thick. “I can’t say it wasn’t my intention to hurt you. I wanted to hurt even the idea of you. I cannot sit here and claim something like, ‘Oh, Emma, I didn’t want to hurt you! It’s all going to be okay!’ because, it’s not okay. Nothing I say can make what I did to you and your family all right.” Regina shakes her head as if to herself, tears ( _Wait, she made Regina Mills cry? Was this real life?_ ) falling down her cheeks.

              “Emma...I’m sorry.” Snow chews her lower lip, and Emma wants to just fall into a hole and die right about now, except for that whole Savior thing. She takes a step toward Regina, and reaches for her hand again, like they had done around the circle of poison tea.

            “Still can’t believe Charmi--Dad....” she tries to say the word, it sounds like she has rocks in her mouth, but she can see Snow smiling wider at the gesture. “Tried to drink it.” Emma nods to the now empty teacups.

             “I can.” Regina and Snow say at the same time. They all laugh, the kind of laughter that makes your sides hurt--when you look at someone and you just start to giggle again. It’s like they’re teenagers, sending themselves into fits of laughter. For three minutes, Emma forgets that there’s the Wicked Witch of the West after her family, that her son doesn’t remember Regina, any of it. That is, until she feels the weight in her jacket pocket.

             “While we’re at it...” Emma chuckles low in her throat, pulling a pouch into view, getting dirt on Regina’s pristine floor. “Want to tell me why Robin fucking Hood left this under a PILE OF DIRT IN THE WOODS? Just to ruin this beautiful moment, here?”

               “He did WHAT? That good for nothing thief!” Regina snarls, clearly surprised by this. Emma wonders why this comes as a surprise, as a thief is a thief. Then again, Emma stole cars before this, not hearts. Jealousy flares as she glares at the brunette.                      “Yeah. Why didn’t you ASK me to watch it for you?!” she hands Regina the bag, and the woman removes the battered, but still glowing heart.

               Snow hisses through her teeth, “Regina...Your resilience is remarkable. Yours, too, Emma. Both of you are stronger than you know.” she gets a look on her face that makes Emma feel for the first time, that Snow is her _mother_. This knowing, calculating look that says, ‘ _You can’t fool me.’_ “You’re stronger together.” she’s not looking at Emma when she says it, but Regina. Well, this got weirder quickly. Emma shuffles her feet as Regina steps into her personal space, smelling like expensive perfume.                “Here, Emma...Please.” the heart is warm and heavy, and it feels a lot like, ‘personal responsibility’, and ‘jealous of what’ instead of worrying about some thief in the woods.

                “You want me to...?” Emma almost drops Regina’s heart, her hands are shaking so badly.

                “Put it back, dear. Yes. I need to have all my wits about me, so that I don’t go thinking it’s a great idea to trust idiots with things that they don’t deserve.”

                 “And I do...?” Emma’s throat is dry. Regina’s brown eyes darken with amusement, or is that something else? The blonde’s nervous chuckle echoes through the room.

                 “You, more than anyone...Deserve it.” Regina breathes, and she leans closer to the other woman. Once Regina’s heart is safely in her chest, she smiles a smile so beautiful and so full of emotion that it takes Emma’s breath away.

                  “I wanted you to know that I meant it, when I did this....So you couldn’t say I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.” Emma thinks her mother might die of glee, but she doesn’t know why. The short haired woman is practically bouncing in her seat. The concussion through the air, and the rainbow of light that cascades down their bodies when Regina kisses her feels like a peal of the most glorious thunder Emma has ever heard. She kisses Regina until they are gasping for breath, and Regina whispers,

                “My mother said love was weakness, all my life. She was wrong.” Emma feels her chin wobble with more tears threatening to spill over, as the door bursts open.

                 “She _found you_.” Snow whispers, dabbing at her tears with tissues. Regina cannot find it in herself to berate Snow for the cliche phrase.

                 “MOM!” it’s Henry, and her father. Fortunately, no Killian. (Though the look on his face was going to be priceless.) Regina is on her knees in her kitchen, sobbing as she holds Henry in a hug that has to hurt. Neither of them seem to be complaining.                     “Zelena--” Charming says, looking around as if to assess how the curse was broken. He doesn’t find Hook, nor Robin Hood. Her father looks quite confused, until Regina takes Emma’s hand in her own, their magic cascading violet around them. A mix of Emma’s white, and Regina’s own purple tinted spells.

           “Will have to go through **us**.” Regina says firmly. Emma nods her affirmative.

            “Wait a minute...Did you guys... _True Love’s Kiss_?!” Henry quickly puts the pieces together, and Emma _really_ could use that hole in the ground, any minute now. She blushes to the roots of her hair.

             “That’s correct, my little prince.”

              “Sweet! I always knew you guys were gonna be together!” his fist-pump is pre-emptive with Zelena slinking about, but for the first time since arriving in Storybrooke, surrounded by her _family_ (and oh, does that feel better than it did an hour ago.) she feels something like hope. As she well knows, hope is the most powerful magic there is. She glances at Regina shyly, and the brunette squeezes her hand. _Well, next to True Love._


End file.
